VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Today in History begin with January 8, 1912, the African National Congress was established.

The African National Congress (ANC) is a Central-left South African political party and was founded on January 8, 1912 in Bloemfontein to protect the rights of the black majority. The ANC is the only party to have ruled South Africa since 1994. Support for the party had diminished in the 1999 elections, but they regained additional support in the subsequent elections in 2004.

Turning to January 8, 1926, Abdul Aziz bin Saud became the first King of Saudi Arabia. Initially, Abdul Aziz As-Saud was Sultan Nejd who conquered the Hijaz Kingdom in 1925. On January 8, 1926, Abdul Aziz bin Saud was crowned as King of Hijaz in the Grand Mosque. On January 27, 1927, he also raised the status of Nejd to become a kingdom. Based on the Jeddah Treaty on May 20, 1927, Abdul Aziz's power was recognized by the United Kingdom and his country was called the Kingdom of Nejd and Hijaz. For five years, Abdul Aziz ruled his two kingdoms as separate units. On September 23, 1932, the main Saudi territories namely Al-Hasa, Qatif, Nejd and Hejaz, were united into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Today in History with January 8, 2003, a Turkish Airlines plane crashed. Turkish Airlines Flight 634 was a domestic aircraft scheduled to fly from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Diyarbakir Airport, in the southeast of Turkey. Because of bad weather, the plane crashed into the slope of a mountain. The aircraft broke into three and an explosion occurred that killed 75 of the 80 passengers and crew, including the pilot and co-pilot. Based on the investigation, the thickness of the fog had  made the pilot unable to see clearly.

The World Bank provided clarification about a report entitled ‘Infrastructure Sector Assessment Program (InfraSAP) which was recently quoted by several media. The report states that infrastructure in Indonesia is of low quality and not well planned. The World Bank report released in June 2018 also mentions that the administration of Joko Widodo and Yusuf Kalla relies on State-Owned Enterprises SOEs in building infrastructure. This was reflected in the government's decision to provide direct assignments of a number of projects to the SOEs.

The World Bank immediately issued clarification regarding the news. In its release, the World Bank confirmed that the report had not been officially published and was still in the finalization stage. However, the World Bank did not deny the news.

In a written statement on Monday (7/1), the World Bank reported that in compiling the report, the World Bank collaborated closely and discussed with relevant parties in the government, such as the Ministry of Finance, Bappenas, various Coordinating Ministries, Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

InfraSAP is a comprehensive analysis related to various obstacles, which can reduce funding for commercial and private infrastructure. This report is one of the possible policy reforms that can be considered and carried out by Indonesia in the short and medium term.

The World Bank has started preparing the report since mid-2017. This is in accordance with the invitation of the Indonesian government to cooperate in finding solutions in a bid to be able to attract more private and commercial funding for infrastructure investment.

Apart from the clarification of the World Bank regarding the report, the Indonesian government has responded positively. Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyan assessed the World Bank report as a positive input for the government. The same statement was expressed by Minister of National Development Planning (PPN / Head of Bappenas), Bambang Brodjonegoro who claimed to have communicated with the World Bank regarding the InfraSAP report.

Indeed, the World Bank has not officially issued the InfraSAP report. But there is nothing wrong for the government to prepare itself for some improvements in infrastructure development planning. Take for example; one of the SOEs that will work on an infrastructure project can cooperate with the regional companies in the location. Thus, the project can have a direct double effect on the area; the infrastructure is built and regional companies can develop.

Miscellany in today’s edition presents information about ”Indonesian Author receives Prince Claus Award 2018”. 

Indonesian literary world has just collected a prideful achievement. Indonesian author, Eka Kurniawan received the Prince Claus Award 2018 for the literary category on 6^th of December in the Netherlands. The annual award is presented to individuals, groups, or organizations engaging in cultural affair. Their literary works have contributed to developing the society in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Caribbean Islands. Eka Kurniawan is chosen as the winner because of his ability in narrating imaginative stories through the beauty of prose as well as the universality of the themes of his works.

213 people were listed as the nominations of the Prince Claus Award 2018. 85 of them were accepted and reselected by the Prince Clause Award Board. Those who were selected were invited to attend the formal awarding ceremony in Royal Palace, Amsterdam, before the royal family of Kingdom of the Netherlands and guests coming from all around the world. The award would also be given to respective country of the winner followed by a ceremony led by Dutch Ambassador. Besides Eka Kurniawan, the other winners of Prince Claus Award 2018 include Adong Judith from Uganda for theatrical category, Marwa al-Sabouni from Syria for Architecture and Urbanism Category, Kidlat Tahimik from the Philippines for Visual Arts and Film Category, and O Menelick Ato from Brazil for Media and Journalistic Category. Meanwhile, Market Photo Workshop from South Africa won the Principal Prince Claus Award 2018 for photographic category. Dada Masilo who also comes from South Africa won the Next Generation Award 2018 for Dance Category.

Eka Kurniawa is an Indonesian author who was born on 28th of November 1975. His works counter all discriminative political treatments. Eka attempts to communicate social issues through his interactive works so that they can be delivered easily to the public and build better perception about their country. The writer who pursued his study at Gadjah Mada University is thought to be able to sharpen people’s understanding about history so that people will have better perception about their country. He is also able to promote local culture by incorporating local mythology in his stories, which has probably been abandoned in Indonesian literary tradition. The author of Cantik dan Luka or in English Beautiful and Wound, uses the power of literature to deliver crucial topics, especially in the period when the freedom of expressing opinion was restricted.

Today’s Mosaic of Archipelago presents the following information:

South Bangka held Batin Tikal Festival. Regional government of South Bangka, Bangka Belitung province held Batin Tikal Festival to manifest new tourism destination in the region.

Regent of South Bangka, Justiar Noer said in Toboali, on Tuesday (11/12) that the festival is to remember a struggling figure of Batin Tikal that until now still becomes controversy who he is actually, where he comes from, and what his contribution is. All of these will be verified. The Regent added that in future, the festival will be decided to be one of series events of Toboali City on Fire where the event has entered as tourism agenda by Indonesian Tourism Ministry.

The next information is that Adventure Tour becomes favorite of tourist to Purwakarta. Youth, Sports, Tourism and Culture Office of Purwakarta regency said during 2018, the number of tourists  who visit to the region reaches 2.3 million people. From the number, two percent is foreign tourist. Head of the office, Heri Anwar said if it is viewed from the target of the visit, it is not appropriate with the target. But he was grateful because currently,  Purwakarta has become one of destinations of foreign tourists. One of destinations of the foreign tourists is adventure tourism object. One of them is hiking at Mt. Parang, Tegalwaru district.

The last information is that Emping Melinjo cracker of Lebak, Banten province succeeded to penetrate Singaporean market. It is conducted through company service of exporter from Jakarta. Hardi, craft-man from Banjarsari on Tuesday (11/12) said that all cracker products are supplied by export market. Market demand of neighboring countries is quite high because Emping Melinjo cracker product of Lebak has organic quality. In addition, the product is produced traditionally and without preservatives. Head of Cooperative and Small Medium Enterprises of Lebak regency, Babay Imroni said that the existence of Emping Melinjo cracker can encourage people’s economic growth and also overcome poverty and unemployment.